Members of the European Parliament's Development and Environment Committees want the EU to equip itself with the right tools to take the lead in implementing UN sustainable development goals, as evidenced by the draft joint own-initiative report presented on 7 February in Brussels.
“We wanted Parliament to make its position known before the European elections and to contribute to the preparation of the UN High-Level Political Forum in September and the Sibiu European Summit in May” on the future of the EU, said Linda McAvan (S&D, UK), Chair of the Committee on Development.
Prepared by Eleni Theocharous (ECR, Cyprus) and Francesc Gambús (EPP, Spain), the draft text calls on the Commission to clearly identify gaps in all relevant policies to assess what needs to be done in terms of policies, legislation, governance and implementation, and to submit a full report on these gaps to present an overall strategy before the end of the year.
This strategy should include indicators and benchmarks. It will also require clear identification and differentiation of the level of governance at which the MDGs should be implemented, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity. In addition, it will be necessary to focus on the MDGs that will be discussed this year - quality education, decent work, growth, combating climate change and strengthening partnerships.
Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans presented the Commission's discussion paper ‘Towards a sustainable Europe by 2030’ as a 'European vision for the post-2020 period that focuses on sectoral policies’ to guide future work (see EUROPE 12183). "We must act to avoid conflicts over the resources of water and air", he warned. According to him, Europe has nothing to be ashamed of compared to other parts of the world, even if “companies seem better prepared than politicians and more willing to make a difference”.
Maria Heubuch (Greens/EFA, Germany) was pleased to see that the first scenario (a real strategy) was favoured, as the MDGs being universal, “everyone has an obligation to act”.
The MEP said that "scenario 3, in which the EU would simply observe what others are doing rather than drive a real movement, is unacceptable". Mr Timmermans replied that if several scenarios were considered, “it is because this is what is being discussed in the Member States. Let the Member States show us where they stand! "
The American Jeffrey Sachs pointed out that "since the Rio Summit (1992) we have still not significantly changed our course. Whether it is ecosystem services or social inequalities, in most parts of the world, we have before us a reflection of the power of the interests at stake, of all the difficulty of overcoming the inertia of a system of 6 to 7 billion inhabitants, representing some $3 trillion of activity per year".
But, according to him, "unambiguously, it is the EU Member States, and more generally the European countries, that seem to be the most advanced". And to denounce the acceleration underway in the United States “to go in the wrong direction with maximum use of fossil fuels and by playing the deregulation card”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)